Enviromental Forum: May 2000

As a new bill in the Massachusetts Legislature makes clear, emotions can have a tremendous impact on public policy regarding pesticide use, according to Fred Langley, who follows state issues for Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment, Washington, D.C.

Titled “An Act Protecting Children and Families from Harmful Pesticides,” the legislation could end up doing just the opposite if passed into law, Langley said. “The fact is totally lost that pests have to be controlled or people get hurt,” he argued. “If this bill passes, as it appears to be headed, pests in schools are likely to increase.”

The situation is a complicated one. There is both a ballot initiative from a public interest group and a legislative bill on the table that call to reduce or completely eliminate pesticide use in or near schools. Even if the bill, which is currently in the House Ways and Means Committee, is shot down by the legislature, the initiative will still appear on the ballot in November. So, however the situation turns out, Massachusetts stands to face a loss of pesticide use in schools and, ultimately, a triumph of emotionalism over sound science, according to Langley.

Of particular concern are the bill’s outlandish stipulations, Langley said. These include not allowing for preventative pesticide applications, true integrated pest management practices, new pest management technologies or methods of delivery. The bill also limits pesticide use for aesthetic purposes and imposes stiff fines for noncompliance.

“Massachusetts may be the first state to go beyond EPA,“ Langley said. “That’s the bottom line.”

As with many issues, pest control is one that needs to be proactively approached, with applicators doing their part to educate the public, Langley urged.

“This is a challenge all of us need to take a look at,” he said, noting that the pest control industry must work to inform the public and dispel misconceptions and misinformation about pesticide use. “When these activist groups come in unchallenged, it makes it easier for them to impose their will on the community,” he pointed out.

Massachusetts isn’t the only state currently scrutinizing pesticide use. According to Langley, there are similar bills pending in 10 other states, including California, Florida, Pennsylvania, Wyoming, Hawaii, Minnesota, New York and Vermont.

WEST COAST UPDATE. In California, legislation is currently moving through the state assembly that would provide a counterattack to total leaf blower bans. The legislation, Assembly Bill 1609, would make it more difficult for cities to completely ban blowers and would overturn existing bans, according to Larry Rohfles, governmental affairs manager, California Landscape Contractors Association, which is a co-sponsor of the bill.

Aimed to override Los Angeles’ blower ban, in particular, the legislation proposes banning all but the quietest leaf blowers throughout California. Under the bill, only blowers 65 dBA or lower (at 50 feet per the American National Standard Institute) would be permitted.

The bill’s overall objective is to prevent the further spread of total blower bans, according to Rohfles. “If this bill were to pass, all previously passed blower bans would be retroactively overturned, with the exception of Santa Barbara, Calif., which banned blowers with a ballot initiative,” he said. “That one would stick and all the rest would go.”

In addition, as new blower technology becomes available, the bill would allow local governments to lower the maximum dBA level permitted.

With powerful opposition in the California Senate, however, the bill’s passage is going to be difficult, Rohfles predicted, noting that the bill is currently at an impasse in the senate’s environmental committee.

A compromise bill might be a possibility, with the original legislation amended to include a mandatory blower label requirement, Rohfles said. “We could end up with a bill that didn’t go as far as the original. If that happens, however, we wouldn’t want to water it down too much,” he warned.

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